24-28 May 2004

DataStreme Ocean will return for Fall 2004 with new Ocean News and Investigations files starting during Preview Week, Monday, 30 August 2004. All the current online homepage products will continue to be available throughout the summer break period.

• Hurricane Forecast Updates...
• North Atlantic basin -- NOAA forecasters announced their seasonal outlooks for the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season. They foresee a more active than usual hurricane season with 12 to 15 named tropical cyclones (to include hurricanes and tropical storms), with six to eight systems becoming hurricanes, and two to four of those major hurricanes. [NOAA News] For comparison, Dr. William Gray of Colorado State University issued his updated forecast for the upcoming 2004 hurricane season in the North Atlantic in early April, which indicated 14 named tropical cyclones, 8 hurricanes and 3 intense hurricanes (category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale). [The Tropical Meteorology Project]
• Central Pacific basin -- NOAA forecasters released their outlook for the 2004 hurricane season in the Central Pacific, which indicates between four to five named tropical cyclones. [NOAA News]
• "Break the Grip of the Rip" -- NOAA officials are planning a media event on Monday to unveil a new national safety campaign that focuses on the hazards of rip currents. The website http://www.ripcurrents.noaa.gov/ has links to a variety of resource materials dealing with rip currents that claim as many as 100 people in the US annually. [NOAA Media Advisory]
• Typhoon hits the Philippines -- With winds of 100 mph and gusts to 122 mph, Typhoon Nida struck Luzon in the Philippines last week, causing at least six deaths. [Disaster Relief]
• Interagency Great Lakes task force to coordinate restoration efforts -- Last week President Bush signed an Executive Order creating the Great Lakes Interagency Task Force that is intended at funding and implementing environmental restoration and management activities in the Great Lakes basin. [EPA National News]
• North American Safe Boating Week -- This upcoming week of 22-28 May has been declared North American Safe Boating Week. Check the Safe Boating Week site maintained by the Safe Boating Council.
• A new submarine volcano discovered -- A team of scientists recently announced their discovery of an underwater volcano off the coast of Antarctica. [USA Today]
• Global and US Hazards/Climate Extremes-- A review and analysis of the global impacts of various weather-related events, including drought, floods and storms during the current month. [NCDC]
• Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

• 24 May 1500...The 13 ships in the fleet of Portuguese navigator Pedro Alvares Cabral were hit by a huge ice storm that sank four ships. The rest of the ships were separated as they sailed south of the Cape of Good Hope and continued their journey to India.
• 24 May 1901...The relative humidity at Parkstone, Dorset in England at 4 PM was reported to be 9.5 percent. This low relative humidity is not typical of the British Islands, which are surrounded by ocean water and have no large high mountain barriers or plateaus. (Accord's Weather Calendar)
• 24 May 1992...Winds up to 40 knots and seas to 18 feet in the northern Gulf of Alaska, approximately 30 miles southwest of Alaska's Cape Cleare, sent three waves crashing over the Cajun Mama. This 80-foot fishing boat sank, but the crew of five was rescued. (Accord's Weather Calendar)
• 25 May 1985... The Meghna River delta in Bangladesh was hit with a tropical cyclone with winds of over 100mph that created a 15-to 20-foot high storm surge that flooded a 400-square-mile area, mainly islands located in the mouth of the river. More than 11,000 people and 500,000 head of cattle died and hundreds of thousands were left homeless because of this cyclone.
• 26 May 1967...A slow moving nor'easter battered New England with high winds, heavy rain, and record late season snow on this day and into the 26^th. Winds 70 to 90 mph in gusts occurred along the coast. Over 7 inches of rain fell at Nantucket, MA with 6.57 inches falling in 24 hours to set a new 24-hour rainfall record. Severe damage occurred along the coast from very high tides. The 24.9 inches of snow that fell at Mount Washington, NH set a new May snowfall record. Other locations in New Hampshire received 10 inches of snow near Keene and 6 inches at Dublin. (Intellicast)
• 28 May1963...A cyclone killed about 22,000 people along the coast of East Pakistan.
• 29 May 1827...The first nautical school was opened in Nantucket, MA, under the name Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin's Lancasterian School.
• 29 May 1914...Shallow river fog along the St. Lawrence River approximately 185 miles from Quebec City, Quebec contributed to the collision of the CP Liner Empress of Ireland and a Norwegian coal ship, The Storstad. Although the two ships had spotted each other several minutes before the collision, altered courses and confused signals contributed to the crash. In one of the worst ship disasters in history, the liner sank in 25 minutes drowning 1024 passengers of the 1477 people on board. Only seven lifeboats escaped the rapidly sinking vessel. (The Weather Doctor) (The History Channel)
• 30 May 1767...The first stone of the tower for the Charleston Lighthouse on Morris Island, SC was laid on this date. (USCG Historian's Office)
• 30-31 May 1997...As many as 140 people had to be rescued from rip currents off Dayton Beach Shores, FL. One man died in a rip current while trying to save his wife. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)

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URL: DSOcean/news.html

Prepared by AMS DSOcean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
ã Copyright, 2004, The American Meteorological Society.